Friday, September 14, 2012

Last July 2009, Bayanihan Collectors Club was invited by the National
Museum of the Philippines to exhibit
some of our member's Philippine - American war memorabilia. The exhibit titled War
& Dissent (The U.S. In The Philippines, 1898-1915) was presented by the
Lopez of Balayan, Batangas Foundation and in partnership with the National Museum
of the Philippines and Fundación Santiago.This exhibition was produced by the Presidio Trust, Presidio of San
Francisco, California, Golden Gate National Parks.

Gift of the nation to Admiral Dewey in memory of the Victory at Manila Bay

Admiral George Dewey who planted the Star Spangled Banner in the Orient

Photos of Dewey in Manila and the American forces

About the Making of War & Dissent

Randolph Delehanty, of Presidio Trust, historian and
curator said that it was a great honor for the Presidio Trust to present this
exhibition at the National Museum of the Philippines. This exhibit began with a
gift and a question. Mr. Allan Harlow, the grandson of Sgt. Hiram Lewis Harlow
of the 51st Iowa Volunteer U.S. Infantry, gave his grandfather’s war diary to
the Presidio Trust Library because Sgt. Harlow trained in San Francisco. Mr.
Harlow wanted to know why his grandfather was in the Philippines.

The Philippine War, also known as the War of Philippine
Independence, was destructive and divisive. Perhaps this is why most Americans,
and many Filipinos, know so little about it. Sharp dissent erupted in the U.S.
when President McKinley decided to make the Philippines an American colony. For
the Philippine Republic, the war for independence from Spain became a war
against the United States. Thus the double theme of this exhibit: war &
dissent.

The exhibit examined that tragic conflict from both U.S.
and Filipino points of view. The Filipino American National Historical Society
in the Bay Area was important in the exhibit’s creation, lending materials and
providing perspectives. There is much more that could have been said about this
war. It was conflict that, though now almost forgotten, forever linked the U.S.
and the Philippines.

Katipunan form signed in blood by the revolutionist Joaquin Bautista.

1899 Photo of Emilio Aguinaldo

1897 Original Biak-na-Bato photo

Officers of Aguinaldo's Revolutionary Army

Photo of Gen. Antonio Luna

Anti-Aguinaldo cartoon blaming him for the death of Andres Bonifacio and Juan Luna.

Manila and San Francisco are linked by history and a
Sister City Agreement. Both are linked by the Spanish-American War and the
subsequent Philippine-American War at the turn of the twentieth century. One of
San Francisco’s landmarks on Union Square is a slender column crowned by the
image of a woman depicting “Victory,” carrying a trident. This monument
commemorates George Dewey’s victory in the Battle of Manila Bay on May 1, 1898.
The bayside street where the U.S. Embassy now stands in Manila used to be known
as “Dewey Boulevard” and is the backdrop for postcard-pretty sunsets. Both
monuments link us to a shared, but often forgotten history.

The first shot in the Spanish-American War did not occur
anywhere near Washington or Madrid, that shot was heard half a world away in
Manila Bay. While Dewey held Manila hostage from the sea, he did not have land
troops to take and occupy the city. Shortly thereafter, Emilio Aguinaldo was
brought back from exile in Hong Kong on a U.S. vessel to resume the Philippine
revolution against Spain. On June 12, 1898 the Filipinos declared their
independence from Spain from a window of Aguinaldo’s home in Kawit Cavite.
Dewey was absent from this historic event because he had been instructed from
Washington not to make promises to the Filipinos or to recognize their
independence. On August 13, 1898, Dewey bombarded the Spaniards in Fort San
Antonio Abad (inside the present Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas complex along
Roxas Boulevard). As secretly agreed, Spanish Manila was surrendered to the
Americans and not to Filipinos.

On the evening of February 4, 1899 a sentry named Grayson
in a blockhouse in Sta. Mesa, on the outskirts of Manila shot and killed a
Filipino whose name is forever lost in history. That shot began the
Philippine-American War. While Aguinaldo established the First Philippine
Republic in Malolos, Bulacan in the same year, the U.S. had not recognized it.
In 1999, the U.S. Library of Congress updated its bibliographic classification
by changing the subject heading “Philippine Insurrection” to
“Philippine-American War.” While an insurrection is a revolt against an
established government, a war is an armed conflict between two nations: a
simple change in words that has the power to transform the way in which
Filipinos- and Americans- see their past, understand their present, and see the
future.

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

These photographs were taken by Manuel Arias Rodriguez and
published a book "GuerraFilipinas". It provides us a glimpse about the Philippine
Revolution in 1896-1898. Rodriguez’s photographs appeared in El Comercioa newspaper that featured the Philippine - Spanish
War.

The most popular photograph of M. Arias Rodriguez is the execution of Jose Rizal in Bagumbayan (now Luneta) on Dec 30, 1896

Back of a shirt turned anting-anting (amulet) used by some
revolutionaries during the war campaign, as a preventive against
projectiles.

A
Katipunan flag taken from the revolutionaries in the proximity of San
Nicolas, belonging to the people of the Malibay (Manila) group.

Front
of a shirt turned anting-anting (amulet) used by some
revolutionaries during the war campaign, as a preventive against
projectiles.

Arsenal de Cavite

WAR OF THE PHILIPPINES . BULACAN, LUZON - Small fort or stronghold of San Ildefonso in the
immediate town of the same name and path to San Miguel de Mayumo.

Barrio Tondo, Manila

WAR OF THE PHILIPPINES. (Biac-Na-Bato, San Miguel, Bulacan, Luzon) - Rebel Field. House of
Emilio Aguinaldo, known among the revolutionaries by the name of "Casa
Presidencia" (Presidential House), which was proclaimed the Republic of
the Philippines on November 1 and the final peace agreement on the night
of December 23.